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Dessert

Heavenly Hash

A layered dessert made with sugar, milk, butter, vanilla, walnuts, chocolate, and candied cherries.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Heavenly Hash

Ingredients

Directions

Make the first layer

  1. Combine 2 cups sugar and ¾ cup milk in a saucepan.

  2. Boil until it hardens in cold water.

  3. Remove from heat and stir in butter, vanilla, and walnuts.

  4. Stir for 3 minutes.

  5. Pour into a tin.

Make the second layer

  1. Combine 2 cups sugar, ¾ cup milk, and 2 squares of chocolate in a saucepan.

  2. Boil until it hardens in cold water.

  3. Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla.

  4. Stir for 3 minutes.

  5. Pour over the first layer.

  6. Repeat the first layer’s process, substituting candied cherries for walnuts.

Finish

  1. Cut into bars when cool.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Vanilla + chocolatetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Walnut + vanillatop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,730 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Granulated sugar
Forms the sweet, firm candy base as it boils and hardens.
Milk
Dissolves the sugar and adds richness and softness to the candy.
Butter
Adds fat that gives the candy a smoother, softer bite.
Walnuts
Add crunch and nutty flavor to the first layer.
Baker's chocolate
Adds bitter chocolate flavor and color to the second layer.
Candied cherries
Add chewy sweetness and fruity flavor to the top layer.

The step that matters

Boil until it hardens in cold water. Sugar syrup must reach the right concentration to set firm. Undercooked candy stays soft and sticky, while overcooked candy turns hard and brittle. Testing a drop in cold water shows when it is ready.

Swap the walnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, milk, butter, vanilla, chocolate):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Cocoafits better
  3. Hazelnutfits better
  4. Walnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, butter, vanilla, chocolate. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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